


October 25: second date

by 96enox



Series: to a boy i love right now [3]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: F/M, brief Seungkwan & Wonwoo appearance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 12:24:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17467496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/96enox/pseuds/96enox
Summary: A second date in the studio with Jihoon.





	October 25: second date

_October 25_

“I’m gonna be home late,” she tells Seungkwan as she packs her bag.

“I heard,” he answers slyly.

When she looks up to figure out why he’s talking like that, she catches his cheeky look. “You heard me on the phone with Jihoon, didn’t you?” Her roommate is great besides the fact that he’s nosy as hell. She points an accusatory finger at him as she shoulders her bag. “Don’t tell me that I was talking loud.”

“I might have caught part of it when I got up to go get a glass of water.” He hands her an apple to make sure she’s not hungry through her first lab. “But I didn’t get the water and just left my door open a little.”

She rolls her eyes. “When are you going to get out of my business, Boo Seungkwan? Next thing you’re gonna say is you asked Hansol to talk to Jihoon for me.”

“Now why would I say that?” he demands, nudging her out the door.

 

Exhausted after her inorganic lab, she takes a deep breath and enjoys the scent of air instead of ammonia. She heads down the hall and glances at her watch. She’s tempted to cancel on Jihoon and head home to eat pizza on the couch with Seungkwan, but something tells her her roommate will yell at her if she bails. So she drags her feet across campus to the music building.

She texts Jihoon, but gets no reply. As she steps into the building, unzipping her coat, she stares hard at the map in an attempt to figure out where he could be.

At least until someone calls her name.

She looks over and sees Wonwoo with a winter coat and his backpack on. He looks as if he’s heading home.

“What are you doing here?” he asks. There’s a glint in his eye that she figures means that he knows already. “Looking for Jihoon?”

“Yeah, actually.”

“He’s in the studio, 207.”

“Thanks.” She takes the stairs up to the second floor and follows the signs. The studio door is open, a soft orange glow coming out of it. When she peers inside, she finds Jihoon sitting in a leather chair almost larger than him with headphones on. He’s sitting close to the monitor. There’s movement on the screen, which must mean he’s listening to something. When the movement stops, she knocks on the door.

Jihoon spins in his chair and then jumps to his feet. He quickly drops the headphones to his neck. “It’s 5:30 already?”

She nods slowly. “Am I interrupting you?”

“No, no.” Jihoon waves her inside. “Come in. Just lost track of time.”

“Wonwoo told me you were in here,” she says, taking a step inside. She looks around the studio. It’s bigger than she expected, a circular wood table sits in front of a small L-shaped couch. There are papers scattered all over it, three pop cans too.

“You, uh…” She lifts her eyes to meet his. “Coat.” Jihoon clears his throat. “It gets warm in here,” he finally says.

She has chills despite the fact that she’s sweating. A tell-tale sign that she’s beyond nervous. She probably could have guessed it at her fast heartbeat and clammy hands. But she does as he suggests, slipping out of her coat and tossing it on the couch. She makes a point of resting her backpack against the wall. Slowly, she unwraps the scarf around her neck and then finds she has nothing else to do but acknowledge Jihoon’s presence.

He studies her for a moment before pulling a spare chair next to his. “Sit. You came for music, I shall play you music.”

Tentatively, she sits. She takes in the keyboard (computer _and_ piano), mouse, small soundboard, and another stack of papers in front of him. She scoots her chair closer so that she’s right next to him. Leaning forward on the desk, she catches the sound of him inhaling shakily.

Knowing that he’s nervous too steadies her nerves. She props her cheek in her hand. “You know you don’t have to show me anything if you don’t want to. We can just talk.”

Jihoon shakes his head, not meeting her eyes. He clicks around on his computer. “I told you I’d show you something.” A beat of silence passes. “And talking isn’t one of my… strong suits.”

“Hmm, that’s not what Jeonghan oppa said,” she says casually as she turns to face the screen. The cursor flies around the screen as he clicks rapidly through files before landing on something that he deems good enough.

“Before I show you this,” he finally turns to her, “what did Jeonghan hyung say about me?”

The orange glow from the lamp at the edge of the desk backlights him, blooming shadows on his face. Her eyes dart around in an attempt to soak in all his features. This is the closest she’s seen Jihoon. There’s a slight bump on his nose that gives it a tiny hook shape. Something, she realizes, is unnoticeable from the front.

Jihoon waits her out, allowing her to inspect his face. He hopes his ears were red _before_ she came in from the heat in the room, because they’re definitely burning now.

Eventually, she responds to him. “Just said that you like to be sneaky sometimes, which suggests you _aren’t_ bad at talking.”

Jihoon snorts, the sound reminding her he’s human and not just an adorably talented human. “Was he talking about himself? Hyung’s the sneak.”

Chuckling, she concedes. “True, but I don’t know him to be much of a liar either.”

Jihoon tips his head. His eyes widen suddenly, which just endears her more. He tends to have a bit of an angry look on his face, but in the dim light of the studio, she’s noticed how animated he can be. “It’s probably from this one time we played Monopoly. I managed to convince him and Soonyoung to give me extra cash as a bit of pity money.” He smirks. “I won.”

She laughs. “That’s more cunning than being a good talker.”

“I’m still proud of that Monopoly play,” he says as he turns to the monitor again. “Headphones or no headphones?”

“You decide.”

Jihoon fiddles with the cord. “I like to hear what people are hearing so I get the reaction.” He takes the headphones off his neck and passes it to her. “But I don’t think I can handle a live reaction from you.”

She chuckles as she puts the headphones on. “I thought we agreed we’d tell each other what we like and don’t like.”

“This is too personal.”

She understands this and says nothing. She gets comfy, resting her arms on the desk and her head on top. She’s still tired from the day and the warmth of the room with Jihoon’s voice is making her dozy. Her eyes settle closed and Jihoon presses play.

The first piano trill sends a shiver down her spine, but then Jihoon’s voice eases her into the song. It’s higher than she would expect him to sing, but he has amazing control. His diction is clear, which she appreciates. By the second chorus, she finds herself humming along to the melody. It’s a ballad that could be a pop song if he added more drums.

The song slowly picks up with synths and a few bass drums, but nothing overpowering. His voice and the piano would be enough to make any girl swoon. Once the song ends, she sits up slowly. She’s in a weird place between sleep and wake and Jihoon can’t help but chuckle at her half asleep expression.

Gently, he removes the headphones from her ears. He’d heard her humming, had been surprised about how on key she was. “Asleep yet?”

She stretches her arms over her head and feels her spine crack. Slouching forward again, she smiles sleepily at him. “You have a sweet voice.”

There’s no way for him to hide the blush on his face now.

“Who’s it about?”

A slight downturn appears at the corner of his lips.

“Should I not have asked?”

Jihoon shakes his head. “It’s okay. I just… it’s about no one.”

“No one?”

The lyrics, from what she’d caught, were comparing a girl he loved to a winter night. But it was a different sort of winter night; it was the cozy feeling from so many people you love in your house during the holidays, the feeling of being pleasantly full after a good dinner, the soft glow of Christmas lights. She feels her stomach warm at the thought.

“Really?” she presses.

Jihoon rubs the back of his neck. “Believe it or not, I’ve never been in a real relationship before.”

“Oh.” She turns back to the screen where he’s begun clicking around again. “I didn’t know.”

Suddenly, he double clicks a file and it opens. She notes the 10 different parts on the screen. From what she can gather, there are no vocals. Jihoon leans forward to unplug the headphones and plays it. A more hip-hop beat fills the room, more bass, harder synth sounds, and something that sounds like a wooden block sticks out to her.

“Not the one I wanted,” he mutters. He closes the file and apparently finds the one he wants. Another file opens that looks very similar to the previous one except with one extra line. This one is less repetitive and takes up more space.

The one with the vocals makes the groove easier to fall into. She perks up when she hears a familiar voice. “Is that Hansol?”

Jihoon nods his head. “Part of our final project.”

She listens carefully. “Did he write the lyrics?”

“I wrote the chorus, but yeah. I tend to let them write the raps.”

 

Jihoon spends most of the night explaining to her how a song comes together. They listen to a few of his old songs, but eventually, he gets too embarrassed and refuses to play anymore. So she takes control of the keyboard and begins playing music that she likes. This shifts their focus to music recommendations.

While she enjoys tying her music to memories, she realizes that Jihoon really does struggle to convey his own emotions and stories the same way. Quickly, she learns to gently prod him with questions if she wants anecdotes.

By 10, it starts to hit them that they’re both hungry.

“How about we go eat somewhere and I walk you home?” Jihoon suggests.

“You don’t—”

“It’s late and it’s cold,” he insists as they get up. “The least I can do is make sure you make it home safe.”

Not for the first time, she feels as if her heart is going to burst. He’s sweet, sweeter than he’d let on at first. It had taken a lot of prodding to get him to talk about himself, but she’d managed to get a few stories out of him without prompt. He’s got a mix of humour that reminds her a bit of Hansol and Wonwoo mashed together.

He holds the door open for her and locks the room after she steps out. Once outside, he locks the building and she immediately feels the chill in her fingers. Before she can shove her hands in her pockets, Jihoon hesitates before catching her fingers to tug her after him. His grip loosens as they make it to the main path, palm to palm instead, his skin warm and soft against her calloused hand. “There’s this good bulgogi place off campus.”

“Okay.” She hurries a bit to keep up with him.

Jihoon seems to notice as his pace noticeably slows. “I room with Mingyu and am friends with a bunch of people taller than me. I had to learn how to walk fast,” he explains.

She chuckles, hyperaware of the fact that while he’s buried on hand in his pocket, the other seems content on holding hers. “No, this is good.”

Jihoon smiles, dimples denting his skin. “Good.”


End file.
